Burma: join the 24 hour hunger strike tomorrow

At last action on Burma - Gordon Brown has issued a statement backing Security Council discussions and for EU foreign ministers to discuss Burma when they meet later this week. He has also pledged to personally raise Burma with his counterparts around the world.

Photo pinched from Burma Campaign website where you can read more about this issue

This is a major breakthrough - many of us including Burma Campaign UK have been calling for this for many years. Tony Blair never raised Burma in meetings with world leaders. Let us hope this is the first step in a much more proactive approach to Burma by the UK government.

The move follows the first protest by Burma Campaign UK at the UK foreign office in more than a decade, as the foreign office had seemed content to merely issue statements of concern. On Friday campaigners in 15 countries also took part in a day of action calling for EU ministers to discuss Burma when they meet on 7th September.

More than 150 peaceful protestors have been detained in the past two weeks in Burma. Tomorrow there will be an international 24 hour hunger strike in solidarity with 41 detainees who are on hunger strike in an attempt to force the regime in Burma to allow medical care for one of their number, whose leg was broken when he was attacked by a regime militia. Activists from almost twenty countries on four continents are expected to take part.

My health prevents me from a 24 hour hunger strike but I will make a gesture of participation by having rice for my main meal - I also urge support for the the online petition thanking the Prime Minister for his support, and calling on him to set benchmarks and timelines for change in Burma, after which, if no progress has been made, steps will be taken to increase political and economic pressure on the regime. See: http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/Burmacrackdown/

Use search facility on this blog for previous posts on Burma.